Alyssa Goessler graduated from the Clark Honors College in 2016 with a degree in Social Sciences (Globalization, Environment and Policy) and a minor in Arabic Studies. During her undergraduate studies, Alyssa studied abroad in Amman, Jordan for one semester where she studied Arabic Language and Culture. During the Spring of her senior year, Alyssa defended her Honors Thesis, “Traditional Islamism Confronts a New Actor: Syrian Brotherhood Dialogues on Daesh”, which relied heavily on her Arabic language skills. Her thesis passed with distinction and earned the Clark Honors College’s International Thesis Award.

After graduating in June 2016, Alyssa relocated to New York City where she accepted a position at the Permanent Mission of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to the United Nations. In her role as assistant to the Deputy Permanent Representative, Alyssa assisted primarily in the tracking of and correspondences related to Elections for international bodies. Alyssa also served as the focal point for the United Nations Protocol and Liaison Service and the Office of Foreign Mission of the U.S. Department of State—the two entities requisite for the securing of the diplomatic rights and privileges of Jordan’s team of diplomats.

She further assisted in event planning for large Ministerial-Level, Ambassadorial-Level and Expert-Level meetings hosted at the United Nations headquarters in New York. After completing one year at the Mission of Jordan in March of 2018, Alyssa will assume a new position at the Executive Office of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, a United States Foreign Policy think tank, publisher and membership organization.

Alyssa plans to enter into a Master’s program in Fall of 2019 focusing in Security Studies and Arabic Studies. In her spare time, she leads a Youth Empowerment program at a homeless shelter in Brooklyn, in collaboration with a local non-profit organization named Dare2B.

How has the study of Arabic been important for your life and career?

Enrolling in Arabic 101 during Fall of my Freshman year was the most haphazardly beneficial decision I’ve made for both my personal and professional life. I quickly found myself magnetically attracted to the language and the greater implications of being an American studying Arabic. The Honors program at the University of Oregon requires a thesis defense as a component of the degree completion, and I knew from my freshman year that I wanted to incorporate Arabic into my thesis. This kept me on track as I knew I would need to obtain a strong degree of proficiency in Arabic in order to have it as a useful skill for research purposes. However, I never knew Arabic would become such an important component of my career path. I sensed it wouldn’t be a bad gamble, as I started my studies in 2012—one year after the Arabic Spring brought the Middle East into the daily U.S. news cycle—but I could have never anticipated the opportunities it would bring me and the wonderful life-long friendships resulting from it.

What has learning Arabic, living in the Arabic world, meant for your growth as a person?

I’m excited for the day when a non-Arab, non-Muslim American can study Arabic or without it constituting a quasi-political act because I think that will be indicative of a new tide of political and cultural exchange and understanding between the U.S. and the Middle East. Regardless, this did come to be a defining component of my undergraduate studies, and my time abroad in particular completely undid any preconceived notions I had of the Middle East. I found myself being continuously humbled as I had to accept that I really knew nothing about the Middle East and Middle Eastern culture.

This humbling process has only continued during my time working as an employee of the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom Jordan. My coworkers have selflessly indulged my myriad of questions about food, religion, dialect and politics, and have never judged me for my opinions or lack of knowledge in those regards. I think this is perfectly illustrated by a time that I tried to eat Jordanian treat—watermelon and a white cheese that is similar to feta cheese named “jibneh akawi”.

Apparently you’re supposed to eat the cheese with a bit of pita and then take a bite of the watermelon. I, the delightfully uncultured American, wrapped up the cheese and watermelon in the pita like a massive burrito. My good friend and colleague who is Jordanian started laughing so hard she couldn’t breathe, and then kindly taught me the proper way to eat it, which was a million times more enjoyable. This was such a unique and specific learning moment that I never would have had if I hadn’t tried to actually engage in the culture in a meaningful level.

In sum, if my Arabic Studies have taught me one single thing, it’s that I ought to always be open-minded and curious, and that the second I assume I know everything is the exact moment I will lose my ability to learn.